Shane Stevens (in blue prison uniform below) serving time for leading one of Fiji's bloodiest mutiny on 2 November 2000 which saw Frank Bainimarama dash through the cassava patch for his life, defecating in his pants from fright. But as current President Jioje Konrote (who trained with NZ SAS and wears the SAS lapel during official duties) told US ambassador Larry Dinger, one must not be surprised for Bainimarama had no combat experience as a soldier when he was appointed Commander of the Royal Fiji Military Forces; Stevens claimed Bainimarama betrayed them after instigating them to overthrow theFLP led Mahendra Chaudhry government

When coupist Bainimarama made that dash through the casava patch he was killing two birds with one stone : saving his backside and fertilising the cassava teitei at the same time. How thoughtful of him!

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Dekho

8/1/2016 09:05:17 pm

According to editor, Fiji Times Flotsam and Jetsam 9/01 the cassava patch dash specialist Frank Bainimarama was presented a fake tabua last year. That was an appropriate tabua for the man who is himself quite phoney!

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Chiku

9/1/2016 08:50:38 pm

A Reminder : what George Speight and his gang of armed thugs ( from the Fijian military ) did on 19 May 2000 was an attempted coup to remove a democratic government. What Frank Bainimarama and his rogue military men did on 29 May 2000 was the REAL coup which removed the president and abrogated the constitution and saw Bainimarama install himself as head of state and all that. If the law of the land had been applied without prejudice it is not hard to see who would have faced the more serious criminal charge. But Fiji stopped having the law applied that way since Bainimarama's UNLAWFUL takeover.

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FB scotch free

10/1/2016 09:24:28 pm

For waiver of any criminal charges to a military commander, it was the GCC that instated in the 1997 Constitution that RFMF was final Bastian of law.

They did that presumably a standing order to outgoing clause for future coups whenever Indians were in dominance of Lower House.

So for this it is those officers who have accepted to the unlawful orders from this commander are naturally the ones who have committed the crimes against the Command Centre.

GS spoilt the plan by demanding FB hand over command back to President before he would release the hostages.

This had cost him a long term jail term as a revenge for being a spoiler of coup plot. He paid the price for pleading guilty to the charge as he was scammed to plead guilty and SDL will save him.

FB's unlawful acts are only invalid to the extent of the inconsistencies to the governing law.

The Bible lovers know what goes around comes around.

Thanks to cassava patch dash that taught RFMF of one commander and unlawful command was only given to the Head of RFMF. Unlawful command by other officers are deemed seditious.

You see Obama was seeing live murder of Bin Laden who was funded by America to kill others, but when he changed sides, it was Bin Laden who was targeted as the murderer and sentenced to death without a trial.

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King Rat

9/1/2016 11:15:48 pm

So, I am reading the sub-text of the photos of Stevens, that he is now a free man living overseas?

It begs the question; was his life sentence commuted? Can the Solicitor General confirm this? Why the secrecy?

Its really sad that 15 years later and we have the wrong people in jail. Soldiers who followed their commanders orders and who were later betrayed remain in prison. If this is what freedom costs to keep them silent. Its not their fault. They have families and for fifteen years freedom fighters in the best international arena cannot secure the truth and justice. I can only wish Shane Stevens well and good luck.

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Welcome Home

10/1/2016 05:00:22 am

Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize winner and writer of 'Night' indubitably one of the most powerful testaments of evil ever written in the 20th century or indeed ever concerning man's inhumanity, said this:

"Convinced that this period in history would be judged one day, I knew that I must bear witness. I also knew that, while I had many things to say, I did not have the words to say them. Painfully aware of my limitations, I watched helplessly as language became an obstacle. It became clear that it would be necessary to invent a new language. But how was one to rehabilitate and transform words betrayed and perverted by the enemy?"

This Preface to a new translation of "Night" describes very precisely, succinctly the dilemma those of us have who have eyewitness and personal experience of the 2000 and 2006 coups d'état in Fiji. Our memories of untrammelled evil, of the perpetrators of evil are intact. They will not be erased. Neither threats, coercion nor ridicule will deter us from our sacred task: we shall bear witness to our dying day of the unmitigated evil which befell Fiji in 1987, 2000 and 2006.

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Welcome Home

10/1/2016 05:17:19 am

Never should we allow ourselves to believe that the foolish and unwitting disbelief afforded to those of us who have determined to give voice to the horror and prolonged torment that has been endured by Fijians since 1987 madness first took root, that an end is not in sight. That a clarity and understanding of events will not eventually restore reason to our lives and some measure of comfort for all that has been taken so forcefully and mindlessly from our lives. Is there a convention for example which denies us a right to visit the graves of our dear departed? Who dares promulgate such a decree?

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jml

10/1/2016 08:29:48 am

Where then is Shane Stevens? Speight and Silatolu will spend their lives in prison, Rambo has become a preacher man (he has stopped asking for forgiveness but will carry the names of the men behind the 1987 coup to his grave) while Vorege struts around and will do so up till his natural demise unless someone decides to shorten it.

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lmj

14/1/2016 12:40:45 am

He's in Prison, where else? Perhaps one would wonder as to how genuine are those photos as they certainly aren't recent!!

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rajend naidu

10/1/2016 07:56:16 pm

Editor,
History is the best judge.
We read in ' China : Giant Gold Mao Statue torn down' ( CNN 9/01 ) that images posted on Weibo, China's dominant social media service, showed the seated 36.6 metre ( 120 feet ) statue of Mao Zedong, the father of modern China, partially destroyed, with a black shroud covering its head.
The area where the statue was sited was one of the areas hardest hit by the famines of 1950s and 1960s which were brought about by Mao's disastrous ' Great Leap Forward ' utopian economic and social reforms. Millions died as a result of the policies.
Weibo uses picked on the sensitive location with one asking " have they all forgotten the great famine to build this? ".
Who would have thought a time would come in China when the Dear Leader's statue be destroyed and with it his reputation and State manufactured legacy?
History has a way of peeling off the falsehoods and revealing the truth.
The truth about the coups in Fiji will eventually be exposed.
History will see to that. We thank Fijileaks and others engaged in that endeavour.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

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"...Secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy... censorship. When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, 'This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,' the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives." --Robert A. Heinlein, -If This Goes On